


leave me breathless

by zero_miles



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, hospital visits if that bothers you, nothing serious though!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-06-27 15:44:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19793968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zero_miles/pseuds/zero_miles
Summary: When Donghyuck wakes up in the middle of the night struggling to breathe, Johnny has no choice but to take him to the hospital. Johnny's worried sick, but thankfully the nurse assigned to treat Donghyuck knows what he's doing.





	leave me breathless

**Author's Note:**

> written for the following enrara prompt: "single dad Johnny au where his son (preferably Hyuck) gets sick/hurt and has to be taken to the hospital, and Johnny is panicking a lot in the waiting room but a certain nurse named Taeil is there to calm down both him and his son."

A small hand colliding with Johnny’s face rouses him from what had been a restless sleep. At first he brushes it off, thinking Donghyuck – who hadn’t been feeling well the night before and insisted on sleeping in Johnny’s room with him – had accidentally bumped into him in his own sleep, but the same hand hitting his face again makes him reconsider.

“Hyuck?” he asks sleepily, rolling over onto his side. “Are you okay?” The clock behind Donghyuck’s head tells him it’s just past one on the morning, and Johnny barely suppresses a groan at the early hour.

Donghyuck’s eyes are wide as he shakes his head. He takes a deep breath, and it sounds like he’s gasping for air. “I feel weird,” he says, sounding a little scared. One of his hands rubs against his own chest, and Johnny gets the impression he doesn’t realize he’s even doing it.

Johnny sits up and turns on the light on his nightstand. “Weird how?” he says, listening to Donghyuck’s shaky breaths. He rubs his son’s back soothingly, hoping that maybe his breathing will regulate if he calms down.

“Weird,” he repeats, his other hand coming up to grasp onto the sleeve of Johnny’s shirt. “Dad,” he pleads, clearly trusting Johnny to make it all better.

“Can you take a deep breath again for me, baby?” Johnny asks carefully.

Donghyuck tries, but it comes out even shakier than it had just moments before. He tries again, unprompted, and it triggers a coughing fit that leaves him clinging to Johnny for support. When Donghyuck finally stops coughing, he looks up at Johnny with red-rimmed eyes and tear-streaked cheeks, and Johnny knows he can’t wait for the pediatrician’s office to open in the morning. He pulls Donghyuck into his arms and climbs out of bed, glancing around for the sandals he’d taken off at the foot of his bed the afternoon before.

“Dad?” Donghyuck asks, voice small. “What are we doing?”

Johnny sighs and shifts Donghyuck so he’s propped against his hip. “We’re going to go get you some medicine so you’ll feel better by the morning, Sunshine,” he says, trying to keep his voice light.

“The doctor is closed though,” Donghyuck points out, and Johnny smiles even with the leaden weight of fear sitting heavy in his stomach. Even when he’s this sick, his baby is still bright as hell.

“Hospital,” Johnny answers, tightening his hold on Donghyuck when he makes an alarmed noise. “They’re not scary, baby. Remember when you hurt your arm and they fixed you up? Well, they’ll fix you up again tonight,” he promises when Donghyuck nods cautiously. “Okay?”

Donghyuck buries his head against Johnny’s shoulder. “Okay.”

The drive to the hospital is silent, save for Donghyuck’s gasping breaths every few minutes. He doesn’t sound nearly as bad as he had when he’d first woken Johnny up, but it’s still bad enough that Johnny doesn’t consider changing his mind and waiting for the pediatrician to open after all. They’ve come this far, there’s no point, he thinks.

The crowded emergency room has Johnny reconsidering. Okay, not actually reconsidering, but wishing he’d considered reconsidering. Or something along those lines. There’s barely an empty chair in the waiting room, and the line at the check-in desk is five people deep and growing.

“Popular place tonight, huh?” Johnny tries joking when he finally makes it up to the desk.

The harried looking nurse behind the desk gives him a dirty look. “It’s a full moon,” she says, like that explains everything. (Or maybe it does, who knows? Johnny doesn’t work in healthcare.) Her expression softens when she sees Donghyuck in Johnny’s arms, though. “I can fill out the intake form for you if you don’t think he’ll let you put him down,” she says.

“Please,” Johnny says gratefully. It’s probably faster for her to fill it out anyways, because she uses some shorthand for Hyuck’s symptoms he can’t made head or tails of but he’s sure a doctor or nurse would understand just fine and uses a fraction of the words he would have. Less than five minutes pass before she sends them to the waiting area, and Johnny’s confident that it won’t take long for them to be called back into an examination room. After all, Donghyuck’s a child. A child who’s having a hard time breathing. Surely that means he’ll get priority, right?

Forty-five minutes later, Johnny moves a sleeping Donghyuck from his lap into the now empty chair next to him and walks back over to the check-in desk. A different nurse sits there now instead of the one who had checked them in, but she looks just as unimpressed. “Excuse me,” he says. “I was just wondering how much longer of a wait it would be? My son and I have been waiting for almost an hour now.”

“It’s a full moon,” she replies, face remaining expressionless. “It could take a while. Unless it’s an emergency, we’re going in the order that you arrived. But rest assured, someone will bring you back soon.”

Johnny wants to argue, but he can already tell it would be futile at best. At worst, he would piss off the nurses and make Hyuck’s wait even longer, which is literally the last thing he wants.

Donghyuck wakes up with a gasp when Johnny tries to shift him back into his lap. “Where are we?” he asks, clearly disoriented by the unfamiliar surroundings. His breathing sounds just as shaky as it had when he’d first woken Johnny up an hour and a half ago now.

“The hospital, remember?” Johnny answers, pushing Donghyuck’s hair back from his forehead. His skin feels a little warmer than it should, although that could just be him running a little warm from sleeping on Johnny for a while. “How are you feeling?”

“Bad,” Donghyuck tells him, and struggles to sit up. Johnny helps ease him to a sitting position, which makes it easier to rub his back soothingly when the sudden motion triggers another coughing fit. “Dad,” he whimpers between coughs, and Johnny’s heart breaks.

“You’re okay, sunshine, you’re okay,” he soothes. “Just breathe for me, okay?”

This second coughing fit is much worse than the one Donghyuck had had before they’d left their home, and by the time it ends he’s collapsed into a sobbing mess in Johnny’s arms. He feels helpless in a way he hasn’t felt in years, not since Donghyuck was a tiny, colicky baby, and he’s just about to go ask the nurse at the check-in desk if there’s anyone who can see them now when he hears a voice calling Donghyuck’s name. When Johnny looks up, he sees the nurse that had helped them check in standing in front of the double doors leading to the exam rooms, looking at them expectantly.

About time, Johnny thinks a touch bitterly as he struggles to pull himself to his feet without jostling Donghyuck too much. Later, he knows he’ll probably look back and think he was being too critical, but right now Donghyuck’s well-being is his only concern.

She doesn’t stick around once she ushers them into exam room three, which is a little bit of a surprise, but at least being in an exam room means that surely another nurse or a doctor will show up soon, right?

Maybe two minutes later, a small, slim man slides the door open and wheels a cart in. “Donghyuck Seo?” he asks, glancing up from the laptop on his cart, and Johnny’s breath catches in his throat a little. He’s _beautiful_ , like exactly Johnny’s type if he’s being honest with himself, but it’s the kind look in his eyes that’s stealing Johnny’s breath. If this is the nurse assigned to Donghyuck, he knows that his son is in excellent hands already.

“That’s me,” Donghyuck says, waving a little from his spot on Johnny’s lap, and Johnny watches as the man’s expression turns into something impossibly soft.

“And you must be his dad,” the man says to Johnny, holding out a hand for him to shake. “I’m Taeil, I’ll be Donghyuck’s nurse today. If you guys had a lengthy wait, I do apologize, I spent a little longer with my previous patient than anticipated and they wanted me to be the one to see you guys.”

Any residual irritation Johnny might have felt about their wait fades away. “Johnny, and I understand.”

Taeil smiles as he pulls some gloves out of one of the boxes on a shelf. “Thank you for being understanding. Donghyuck, are you able to sit on the exam table, or do you want to stay on your dad’s lap?”

Donghyuck folds his small hands into Johnny’s shirt sleeves. “No.” Donghyuck didn’t exactly answer the question he was asked, but Johnny thinks Taeil understands anyways.

“I can sit on the exam table with him, so you have more room?” Johnny offers.

Taeil nods, looking slightly relieved. “If you could, that would be great.”

Donghyuck whines a little when Johnny moves him again, but he’s quick to settle this time. The upright position doesn’t trigger another coughing fit, at least, which Johnny is grateful for.

“Tell me about his symptoms?” Taeil asks as he prepares the thermometer.

“Sure. Well, he wasn’t feeling well before or after dinner last night. He was complaining about his head hurting and he had a little cough, so I gave him a little bit of children’s Tylenol and let him sleep in my room so I could keep an eye on him. He woke me up about two hours ago now,” Johnny says, glancing at his watch, “because he was having trouble breathing. He sounds a little better now, but he was literally gasping for air when he first woke up. And he’s had several severe coughing fits since then, too.”

Taeil hums. “Well, his temperature is fine, which is good,” he tells Johnny. “Donghyuck, I’m going to check your breathing, okay? Are you ready to take some deep breaths for me?”

Donghyuck nods resolutely. “I’m ready.”

Taeil talks to Donghyuck the entire time he listens to his breathing, giving him directions and encouragement in equal measure. He doesn’t talk down to Donghyuck like so many adults do to little kids, instead talking to him like he’s a real person who can understand what he’s being told just fine, and it makes Johnny feel warm and fuzzy inside. Like he’s a teenager with an instant crush again, which is as silly as it is inappropriate right now considering that Taeil’s literally just doing his job. Doing his job extremely competently – which is something Johnny’s always found insanely attractive in a person! – but still.

Taeil removes his stethoscope with a gentle smile. “Hang tight, guys. I have to go get something, okay?” he says, backing out of the room.

Donghyuck slumps a little when Taeil leaves them, clearly not seeing the need to put on as much of an act any longer. “He’s nice.”

“He is,” Johnny agrees, bending his head so he can kiss the top of Donghyuck’s head. “How are you feeling?”

Donghyuck shrugs, which is kind of an answer in of itself. “I want to go home,” he answers.

Johnny chuckles softly. “Hopefully soon,” he says as the door slides open again. Taeil re-enters, holding what looks like a long white tube with a plastic piece attached to the end of it.

“So this is a spirometer,” Taeil explains, plugging the end of the tube into the laptop he’d wheeled in with him earlier. “Donghyuck, in a minute I’m going to have you breathe into the tube, okay? But first I’m going to put a clip on your nose so you can only breathe in and out through your mouth while I’m doing the test.”

“Why do you need to block his nose?” Johnny asks worriedly.

“We want to test his lung function right now, and restricting his ability to take in air through his nose will help him take deeper breaths. This test will also either rule out a lot of different possibilities or confirm them, depending on the results,” Taeil says patiently. “Are you okay with that, Johnny?”

Johnny nods. He trusts Taeil and his medical experience and has no doubt that Taeil wouldn’t want to do this unless it was necessary. “Yeah, okay. Let’s get it done.”

Taeil has Donghyuck breathe into the machine three different times, leaving Donghyuck red-faced and gasping by the end of it. “I know, buddy, I know,” Taeil murmurs to him, brushing his hair off of his forehead. Turning to Johnny, he says, “I want to give him a bronchodilator using an inhaler, and then after fifteen minutes we’ll perform the test again. I know it’s hard for you to watch him go through this, but it’s the quickest way to get a diagnosis.” His words are gentle, and his eyes even more so. Once again, Johnny finds himself putting his faith in the smaller man standing in front of them.

Johnny expects he and Donghyuck to be left to their own devices during the fifteen minutes Taeil had said they’d have to wait before running the tests again, so he’s surprised when Taeil sits down on the stool in the corner of the room and begins chatting with Donghyuck. And it’s not like Donghyuck is a shy kid or anything, but even Johnny’s impressed by how much information Taeil’s able to coax out of him in such a short time. By the time the fifteen minutes is up, Taeil knows Donghyuck’s favorite color, favorite sport, the name of his teacher, the name of his best friends, his and Johnny’s birthdays, and the name of Jaehyun’s dog; in response, Taeil tells them that he’s a pediatric nurse who normally works in the children’s ward but had been scheduled to work nights in the ER this week. It’s a lot to take in, but Taeil takes it all in stride, managing to keep up with everything. Which is no small feat; even Johnny can’t always follow Donghyuck when he bounces from topic to topic like this.

Even to Johnny’s completely untrained ears and eyes, it’s obvious that the second round of tests on the spirometer go a lot better. Taeil looks pleased by the results, for starters, and Donghyuck doesn’t struggle nearly as much to breathe in and out as instructed.

“A doctor will come in to check Donghyuck himself and look over the test results, but it’s very likely that what happened is that Donghyuck caught a cold of some sorts and it triggered an asthma attack,” Taeil says, typing something on his laptop.

Johnny blinks. “But Hyuck doesn’t have asthma.”

“This is often the age in children where it’s first diagnosed,” Taeil explains. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s exhibited some symptoms in the past that weren’t severe so they weren’t noticed, either – which is entirely normal and does not reflect on you as a parent at all, Johnny,” he says firmly, apparently noticing how Johnny’s face had fallen. “And you did the right thing by bringing him to seek medical attention immediately tonight.”

Johnny pulls Donghyuck closer to him, although he’s careful not to pull him _too_ tightly and restrict his breathing. “This isn’t going to keep him from being able to be a kid, is it?”

Taeil shakes his head emphatically. “No. Absolutely not,” he says firmly. “Likely what will happen next is that your pediatrician will run the same tests I did, confirm the diagnosis, and prescribe an inhaler for Donghyuck. They might give you a rescue inhaler only, to be used during times like tonight, or they might give you an inhaler to be used daily as a preventative measure. Or maybe both. But he’ll still get to do all the things kids do without it affecting him much.”

Johnny exhales, relieved. “Okay. That doesn’t sound too bad, then.”

The corner’s of Taeil’s mouth quirk up in a smile. “Just, you know, don’t smoke around him or anything like that. I’m not saying that you do,” he adds, “but it’s just something to be aware of.”

“Dad doesn’t smoke,” Donghyuck says around a yawn, which isn’t surprising. It’s close to four AM now, after all. If he doesn’t fall asleep again before they leave the hospital, he definitely will on the drive back home.

“Good to know,” Taeil says. “Alright, let me go get the doctor, okay guys?” When Johnny nods, he slips out of the room again, and Johnny tells himself that he’s definitely not disappointed to see him leave, nope.

The doctor comes by the room shortly after Taeil leaves them and does a quick check of Donghyuck’s breathing himself before turning to the laptop Taeil had left in the room. “Did Taeil already go over these results with you?” he asks. Johnny nods. “It’s definitely an asthmatic reaction of some sort. You’ll need to take Donghyuck to his regular pediatrician soon for further testing and for you to decide what sort of treatment plan is best for him, but for now we’ll be sending you home with a prescription for an inhaler to be used twice daily for seven days,” he concludes.

It’s short, kind of perfunctory, but with as busy as the waiting room had been and probably still is, it’s not that surprising to Johnny. It just makes him even more grateful that they’d been assigned a nurse as caring and attentive as Taeil had been. “Sounds good,” he says.

“You’re just about good to go, Taeil will be back in a minute to give you your prescription,” the doctor finishes, and departs after waving goodbye to Donghyuck. Taeil re-enters the room immediately after the doctor leaves, and Johnny has a sneaking suspicion that he’d been waiting outside for the doctor to finish. He has a stack of papers in his hands that he immediately hands to Johnny.

“So the prescription for the inhaler is on the first page,” Taeil starts. “Normally we’d send the prescription directly to the pharmacy, but at this late of an hour it’s easier to just give you the prescription yourself to take directly to the pharmacy of your choice. The second page is the treatment plan suggested by the doctor, that you need to take Donghyuck to his normal pediatrician as soon as possible, ideally within the next week. And then I printed out some information for you about asthma in children since the internet is a confusing place and I didn’t want you to get sucked into the misinformation that’s out there,” he finishes, ducking his head a little.

“Thank you,” Johnny says sincerely. “For this, and for all of your help tonight. I was really freaked out, but you made it a lot less scary for us.”

“Just doing my job,” Taeil says dismissively, but Johnny can see how the tips of his ears are turning red. Cute. “Do you have any other questions before I let you guys head home?”

Had they met at any other time, in any other place, Johnny would be asking Taeil for his number right now. Not only is the other man attractive as hell, he’s kind and caring and treats Hyuck like a person instead of a baby, of course Johnny wants to get to know him better. But – Taeil’s at work. They’re at the hospital. Johnny’s sick son is still sitting on his lap. It would be wildly inappropriate, no matter how much Johnny wants to.

“I think we’re good,” Johnny says, sighing a little. “Sunshine, can you say thank you to Taeil?”

“Thank you for helping me feel better, Mister Taeil,” Donghyuck chirps, and Johnny watches as Taeil visibly melts.

“Of course, kiddo,” Taeil replies, reaching out and patting Donghyuck on the top of his head. “You guys drive safe going home tonight, alright? I’ll see you around.”

That’s the problem though, Johnny thinks wistfully as he carries Donghyuck out to their car in the parking lot. He won’t see Taeil around, as much as he wants to.

***

“So,” Jaehyun says, smiling widely enough that his dimples pop out. “Hyuck looks better.”

“He does,” Johnny agrees, watching Donghyuck chase Jaehyun’s dog around their living room. It’s been two days since their middle of the night emergency room trip, and the only thing surprising about Jaehyun showing up with Sandy in tow was that he waited longer than a day to do so. “The inhaler the hospital prescribed seems to have fixed him right up, and we’re going to the pediatrician tomorrow.”

“That’s good,” Jaehyun says, giving Johnny a scrutinizing look. “But if he’s doing so much better, why do you look so down?”

“I don’t look down,” Johnny protests. “I’m fine. I’m relieved. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Jaehyun snorts. “Yeah, okay. You were moping when I got here. At first I thought it was because Hyuck was still sick, but you literally just told me yourself that he’s better.”

Johnny scowls. Damn Jaehyun and his perceptiveness. “I met someone I was kind of interested in the other day, but I didn’t get their number and I’ll probably never see them again. That’s all.”

“They rejected you?” Jaehyun asks, eyebrows practically shooting up into his forehead.

“No,” Johnny snaps. “I didn’t even ask. It seemed inappropriate.”

“Why would it seem inappropriate?”

“Because it was the nurse who was treating Hyuck in the hospital,” Johnny says, lowering his voice when he notices Donghyuck looking at them intently.

“Oh,” Jaehyun breathes out. “Okay, yeah, that would have been inappropriate. Good call.”

“Gee, thanks,” Johnny says sarcastically. “But yeah. If I seem a little down, that’s why. But I’ll be fine.”

Jaehyun leans over and taps Johnny on the cheek twice. “Hey, cheer up. The universe works in mysterious ways, right? So if something is meant to happen between you and this nurse, it’ll happen somehow,” he says confidently.

Johnny snorts. “Yeah, okay, but you’re missing the fact that I’m never going to see him again.”

“This city isn’t that big, and he works close by. You never know,” Jaehyun says sagely. “Don’t be such a pessimist.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Johnny grumbles, but lets it go. He’s pretty sure Jaehyun’s just talking out of his ass right now, but it’s a nice thought anyways.

***

“Dad,” Donghyuck says.

“Hmm?” Johnny says, not looking up from the box of cereal in his hands. Donghyuck’s been bugging him for a while now to try this kind, but he wants to make sure it doesn’t have _too_ much sugar before he commits to buying it. The last thing he wants to do is be the cause of Hyuck’s teeth rotting out of his head or something.

“Dad,” Donghyuck repeats, tugging at Johnny’s sleeve. “Look.” When Johnny looks up, he sees that Donghyuck’s pointing at a man at the end of the aisle. The gentle reprimand that Johnny usually gives Donghyuck for forgetting his manners and pointing at people dies on his lips when he realizes who, exactly, is standing there.

Taeil, at least, doesn’t seem to realize what’s happening. Maybe because Donghyuck whispered, maybe because he seems to be reading the back of the box in his hands just as intensely as Johnny had been reading his cereal box moments before. Either way, the man seems to be blissfully unaware.

“Yeah, sunshine, that’s the nurse who helped you when you were sick,” Johnny says gently, folding his hand around Donghyuck’s tiny fist and lowering his arm.

“Can we say hi?”

Johnny frowns. “It looks like he just got off work,” he says, taking in the dark blue scrubs Taeil’s wearing. “We should let him be.”

Donghyuck shakes his head vigorously. “No,” he protests. “We should say hi!”

“Hyuck,” Johnny says firmly.

Donghyuck gives him a mischievous look before leaning over the edge of the cart, so far over that Johnny nearly has a heart attack before he can grab onto the back of his son’s shirt and haul him back into an actual seated position. “Mr. Taeil!” he shrieks. “Mr. Taeil!”

Taeil’s head snaps up, and he looks around worriedly before his gaze settles on them. “Donghyuck, Johnny,” he says, sounding pleased. “Hello!” He places the box he’s holding gently into his cart – his very well organized cart, Johnny notes, and takes a couple steps closer to them.

Donghyuck squeals and kicks his feet in delight, nearly kicking Johnny right in the dick in the process. He manages to step out of the way just in time so that Hyuck’s foot grazes his hip instead, but if the way that Taeil makes a strangled noise and immediately covers his mouth is any indication, he definitely knows what just almost happened. Wonderful.

“Wait, Mr. Taeil, are you crying?” Donghyuck asks worriedly.

Taeil drops his hand. “No, I’m not, don’t worry,” he says reassuringly, winking at Johnny. Johnny feels his face warm, damn it. Hopefully if Taeil notices, he’ll play it off as a trick of the light. “And you don’t have to call me Mr. Taeil, Donghyuck. Just Taeil is fine.”

“Dad says that calling grown-ups mister and missus is the polite thing to do, but I don’t know your last name,” Donghyuck answers.

Johnny ruffles his hair. “It’s alright if he says it’s alright, Hyuckie.”

“See?” Taeil asks Donghyuck. “You’re looking a lot better than you were the last time I saw you. Your dad must have taken really good care of you, huh?”

Donghyuck nods, his tiny body practically vibrating with excitement. “Dad didn’t go to work for an entire _week_ ,” he tells Taeil.

Taeil gasps, drawing a giggle out of Donghyuck, and it strikes Johnny yet again just how _good_ he is with kids. Makes sense, what with him being a pediatric nurse and all, but still. “That must be because he loves you a lot.”

“Yeah,” Donghyuck says, with all of the confidence of a child who does know just how loved he is. “He likes you too, Taeil.”

Johnny’s eyes widen. “Donghyuck,” he says sharply. A look that Johnny can only describe as an _oh, shit_ look passes over Donghyuck’s face, and it would be kind of funny if he wasn’t so embarrassed.

“Oh?” Taeil asks interestedly, moving even closer. “Did he tell you that?”

Donghyuck looks from Johnny to Taeil slowly, then looks back up at Johnny. Indecision is written all over his face. It’s kind of adorable, but then again, Johnny thinks most things his son does are kind of adorable, so.

Now, Johnny’s not a mind reader or a rocket scientist or anything, but it’s pretty obvious that Taeil is anything but bothered by the information that Hyuck just let slip. It’s that knowledge that has him feeling bold enough to say, “I didn’t, but he probably heard me talking to a friend of mine about how I wanted to ask for your number but realized that it would have been really inappropriate in the situation we were in.”

“Good instincts,” Taeil murmurs. “What about now, though?”

Johnny swallows. “I would suppose that all depends on whether or not you think standing in the middle of a grocery store with my son watching our every move is an appropriate time for me to ask for your number or not.”

Donghyuck gasps and covers his eyes with his hands. “I’m not watching, Dad!”

Taeil chuckles. “God, he’s cute,” he says, and Hyuck preens even with his hands over his face. “I feel like the grocery store is a very fitting place to give you my number,” he adds, holding out his own hand expectantly. Johnny scrambles to pull his phone out of his pocket to place it in Taeil’s waiting palm, forgetting to unlock it in his haste.

“It’s locked,” Taeil points out.

“The code is zero six zero six,” Johnny answers, not caring if Taeil knows. “Hyuck’s birthday.”

Taeil pauses for a brief moment, his thumb hovering over the screen. “Huh. That’s just a few days before my birthday,” he tells Johnny, making quick work of unlocking Johnny’s phone and punching in his number after that.

Johnny grins. He _loves_ Geminis, had even before Donghyuck was born. “So I can call you, right?” he asks, a little dumbly.

Taeil huffs out an impatient sounding noise. “Obviously,” he says, looking less annoyed than he maybe should, considering how dumb of a question Johnny just asked him. “You should call me soon. Or text me. Both are fine.”

“I definitely will,” Johnny promises. “I’ll let you get back to your grocery shopping though, you look tired. Not that you don’t look good still! But yeah,” he concludes dumbly.

“I did just get off work,” Taeil laughs, “so I’m not offended. But seriously, call me soon, okay?”

“Okay,” Johnny promises again. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Me too!” Donghyuck says excitedly. “Bye, Taeil!”

“Bye,” Taeil says fondly. He lingers for a moment longer before turning around and walking away with purpose, like he’s telling himself to leave or something, and as Johnny watches him leave the only thing he can think of is that he can’t believe Jaehyun was right.

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/zero__miles) || [cc](https://curiouscat.me/zero__miles)


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